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China Miéville, the smart, broody author of brilliant fantasy/steampunk novels The Scar, Perdido Street Station and The Iron Council, has recently released two new books: one is a nonfiction treatise on Marxism called Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law, and the other a children's fantasy novel called Un Lun Dun. He chatted with SFFWorld recently about monsters, Marx, and kids. He said his entire motivation for writing was to create interesting monsters, which suits me and his many fans just fine. Miéville added that Marxism has "everything and nothing" to do with his fiction:
What is it with Marxists and monsters? Franco Moretti would say it all has to do with the way monsters seem to represent the repressed bodies of the proletariat. In my Marxocentric book about monsters and capitalism, I say the boom-and-bust cycles of capitalism are mirrored in monster stories full of blood, gore, and brain-eating. As for Miéville? As an avid reader of his work, I would say his monsters are neither a metaphor for proles, nor for historical tragedy. They are instead simply human beings. Which is a lot more than I can say about many allegedly human characters in science fiction and fantasy writing. If you haven't already, check out Miéville's work. Start with Perdido Street Station, then read The Scar. Then, try to sleep. Really, just try.
